The Lansdowne Fountain in Berkeley Square

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A drinking fountain in Berkeley Square, London. Exhibited at the 1869 Royal Academy White marble on polished red granite pedestal Source: the 1867 Illustrated London News, which comments “The late Marquis of Lansdowne, whose memory deserves to be cherished for his many virtues of public and private life, had shortly before his death made arrangements to erect a drinking-fountain, at his own cost, in Berkeley-square. He had intrusted this work of art to Mr. Alexander Monro, the sculptor, who had just completed his “Boy and Dolphin” fountain at Grosvenor-gate, a design which Lord Lansdowne muoh admired. The commission for the Berkeley-square fountain was the last given by that lamented nobleman, who was ever the constant, generous, and discriminating patron of merit in all branches of art and literature. He saw Mr. Munro’s design, and approved of it» but did not live to see its execution. The Engraving will show our readers out of London that it is one of the happiest efforts yet made to combine beauty with utility in a work of this description. The overflowing urn is held by the praceful figure of a nymph, partially draped, standing in an easy and natural attitude, with one hand resting on the rim of the urn, the other grasping its handle. The expression shows, perhaps, a modern rather than a classical tone of feeling. The treatment of the drapery is full of grace. The figure is seven feet in height, of hard white Carrara marble, and stands on a pedestal of polished red granite. (text credit) Date: 1881 Photos taken January 2019 with a Sony a6000 and processed in Agisoft Photoscan.